


While You Were Sleeping

by Name1



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, S1E7, friends to something more
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 05:34:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26846743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Name1/pseuds/Name1
Summary: Now he and Cara were on their way to Nevarro from Sorgan. He was relieved she had still been there causing trouble in the bar—she didn't seem like someone who stuck around in one place for long. Despite his mention that the client was Imperial, he was surprised she agreed to come with him with such little fuss, though he was grateful she had. He was certainly screwed without her help.
Relationships: Cara Dune/The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Din Djarin & Cara Dune
Comments: 23
Kudos: 61





	While You Were Sleeping

**Author's Note:**

> Hi again! Still trying to get through these drafts before S2. Enjoy :)

The last twenty-four hours since he had received that transmission from a very much alive Greef Karga had been a blur.

Now he and Cara were on their way to Nevarro from Sorgan. He was relieved she had still been there causing trouble in the bar—she didn't seem like someone who stuck around in one place for long. Despite his mention that the client was Imperial, he was surprised she agreed to come with him with such little fuss, though he was grateful she had. He was certainly screwed without her help.

It was late by the time they made it into deep-space and he offered her the bed he’d made up below deck. When she turned it down, he offered her _his_ bunk instead. He could sleep on the floor--it was more than a fair trade for her risking her life to help him. Having someone he trusted at his side was a pleasant feeling, he had to admit. He wasn’t sure if this was what friendship was, but he kind of liked it.

"It’s nothing personal, Mando," she tells him when he offers up his bunk, "I just don’t like sleeping in enclosed spaces."

“I’m not going to let you sleep on the floor," he argued.

"I don’t need anything fancy, I’ll just catch a few minutes of shut eye in a chair in the cockpit,” she offers. “That is, if you trust me in there.”

"I trust you,” he replies, easily. He didn't know _why_ but he did. That confusing _why_ was why he had come back for her. He saw something in her that he saw in his own eyes: a need to hurt the Empire, yes; but even more than that--a need to atone, a need to belong, a need to do better. If he trusted her not to try to see his face and not to shoot him in the back with his own blaster, of course he trusted her near the control paneling. She'd never seemed so much as passively interested in what he looked like under his helmet--an unusual woman indeed. _Everyone_ was curious, but Cara truthfully couldn't care less. She just saw him as he was and decided he was enough as he stood before her. What was under the helmet didn't matter as much as what kind of man he was. 

It was strange, but the more she accepted him and the less she wanted to see his face, the more he thought about what she would think of him if he were ever to show her. He had heard whispered rumors of other Mandalorians wanting to take off their helmet in a moment of weakness, but he certainly never had. What was it about her that got under his skin so? They had sparred, worked alongside one another in the village, and spent many a quiet downtime in companionable silence; but while the ease with which they fought together was truly something special, it was the laughter and general easy fondness they shared that had stuck with him in the weeks since he'd last seen her. 

He went to bring her a blanket, but she was already asleep by the time he returned. The chair she was sleeping in was only back maybe ten degrees and didn’t look very comfortable at all, though in the time he’d known her he’d seen her sleep with one eye open against a tree with her blaster in her hand, so this was still a step up. Her weapon was safely holstered at her side now—that spoke volumes. This was the most relaxed he’d ever seen her, but she was still poised to jump up at a moment’s notice. He wondered the last time she’d truly had a restful night’s sleep laying down. He let his eyes take her in. Her hair was the same and her face was as annoyingly perfect as he remembered. Her collar guard and shoulder armor were removed and propped against the console and he saw her socked feet stretched out in front of her and crossed demurely at the ankles.

He knew he should check on the kid and head off to bed, but he couldn’t drag himself away from the rare chance to see her softened with sleep. To the casual onlooker, there was absolutely nothing soft about his companion, but Din had seen different.

He’d seen her softness for the kid, for _him_ …….He'd felt her instant acceptance of his way of life. She didn't judge someone on their outward appearance alone--a rare find these days.

She was such an enigma—the woman sleeping tensely before him. He knew next to nothing about her past but trusted her implicitly. He did know a few things though. He knew she was hard and tough and strong and put her money where her mouth was, but at the same time she also helped him save a village for no personal gain and begrudgingly tossed the children into the lake when they begged her to. He wondered who she was before all this and if he'd ever find out. Was she someone inherently strong who simply covered up any weakness or someone who used to be weak and grew strong when there was no other choice? He knew this much: the way it felt like he’d fought beside her half his life….he had never met a woman like her before.

He put the blanket on her and watched as she turned her face into it. He took a step back once it was clear he hadn’t woken her.

He couldn’t sleep in a comfortable bunk while she slept in a hard metal chair with minimal padding, so he tucked in for the night in the other chair opposite her. Sitting in the copilot’s chair, he let himself drift off with someone else on his ship for the first time in many years. Sleeping in his helmet wasn’t comfortable by any means, but it was worth it this one night.

If he was being honest, he had missed having her around—that’s all there was to it. The days they spent living and fighting side by side on Sorgan had been the most unexpected surprise; just when he’d found the kid and thought his life couldn’t possibly get any more exciting, there was Cara knocking him on his ass and then apologizing for coming down on him so hard (as if she'd ever need to apologize for impressing the hell out of him). _Which brought him to the present._ He needed her as backup if he had any chance of protecting the kid from the Imperial client, but he actually cared about her and that complicated things. He hoped this wasn’t as big of a trap as he feared. He’d never forgive himself if he led this woman straight to her death with a smile on her face. Maybe they could travel together for a while once all this was over....

...........................

She woke up and was surprised by the blanket keeping her warm, but more surprised by the fuzzy green ears tucked up under her chin. _That sneaky bean……Mando really needed to keep closer tabs on the kid._

She knew Mando must have put the blanket on her after she dozed off, but _how_? She was always on edge, even in sleep. There was no way he could have laid a blanket on her without her leaping up out of pure instinct. On second thought, he might be the only one she could sense walking around her and not immediately wake up in a panic. She hadn’t slept this soundly in as long as she could remember--certainly not with another person nearby. She looked around as she blinked the sleep out of her eyes and saw him. She tried not to move as her eyes studied him in the dim light. This was a rare chance to see him as close to relaxed as he likely ever got.

She watched the subtle rise and fall of his chest and assured herself he truly was asleep as she observed him. She was glad he was so relaxed--he didn't look like a guy who slept all that soundly either. His hands were uncovered lying across his stomach and she couldn’t tear her eyes away. She’d seen them once on Sorgan when they were soaked head to toe and they’d both literally poured water out of their gloves and boots, complaining and grumbling, while the whole time vibrating with adrenaline from the fight and giddy in their shared victory. It had almost felt more like a game than an actual skirmish and she had felt something weird when he'd laughed when it was all over.

He was wearing his helmet obviously, but had on casual clothes for sleep and thick wool socks like her own. He looked oddly vulnerable with a thin sliver of his soft neck showing where his head was resting on the opposite shoulder. She looked away in case she was seeing more than she should. She noticed, he was sleeping only an arm lengths away from her. This close, and while he slept trustingly, someone could easily take off his helmet. The thought filled her with rage. She would never dream of taking advantage of his trust, but another person easily might. Why was he asleep with her so close by then? How had he survived so long on his own, she thought, with how trusting he appeared in this moment? Probably the same way she had, she assumed, by shutting off a human part of herself and trusting no one--definitely not sleeping next to someone. For some reason, they had both found an exception in the other and had fallen into an easy slumber.

She looked down at the kid and then back to Mando. She knew they were walking into a trap, but she couldn’t send him away empty handed--not when he’d asked her to help him. She certainly didn't have a line of other friends knocking on her door asking for help. Dying wasn’t something she feared anymore, but living without a purpose was getting old. Dying for a good cause-- _a good man and his innocent kid_ \--well, that sounded like the best deal she’d come across in years. Best case--she’d get to decimate some Imps. Worst case--well....... she didn’t have much to lose.

When they had parted ways, she had accepted she’d likely never see him again, but thought of him often (despite refusing to acknowledge it). What was it about this man that struck a chord with her? She never even saw his face, but she saw his character clear as day--maybe even more clearly without bone structure to get in the way and blur the image. How could anyone say it wasn't clear what he looked like? Hadn't they _looked_ at all? He looked like a _man_ who was kind in a universe of casual cruelty, that much was clear. He looked like a _person_ who chose to be selfless instead of greedy, and a _human_ that was good in the only ways that really counted in a world littered with evil. He looked like a man who risked his very life to save an innocent kid from a terrible fate--for no benefit of his own. There were certainly not many people like him--so what could his eyebrows or the shape of his nose tell her that she didn't already know? That he was a fighter like her; a warrior, and a good marksman, only made him all the more an enigma. Was it possible to be attracted to someone you'd never seen with your eyes? She would have said 'no' months before, but now she wasn't so sure.

She pulled the blanket higher and saw dark glistening eyes of the kid staring back at her. He must have sensed her restless musings. “Go back to sleep kid. I’m too tired to make you move, but this isn’t going to be a habit. Got it?”

She genuinely hoped she could help this complicated man and his ward. He was nothing like she expected when she saw a Mandalorian walk into her little outpost, but he turned out to be everything she needed to come across at this point in her life. She refused to call him a friend at the beginning, but like this damn kid, he had wormed his way in before she could stop it. She must be getting soft, she thinks.

Maybe while she was sleeping, she could sort out these confusing thoughts swirling around in her head. With a ‘kind-of-friend’ beside her and a cute kid keeping her warm, taking a risk to sleep beside another person didn’t seem as terrifying as it used to. For the first time in a long time she wanted to see the light at the end of the fight only so she could share a teasing one-liner and quick spar with this interesting man she liked more than she should. There was definitely something else _there_ , but it did no good to allow herself to get distracted before the fight that was awaiting them on Nevarro. Maybe when all this was over she could dream something pleasant for once, knowing she’d been part of something good. Maybe they could even stick together for a while....

The two of them were remarkably capable and well-armed. She couldn’t imagine how this could possibly not go in their favor.

...............................the end............................

**Author's Note:**

> Until next time :)  
> I'm catching up with comments I swear. I'd love to hear from you if you enjoyed this short little one-shot.


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